Modelling e-product flows, e-waste, material value and emissions to inform national policy

Australia had no single source of truth for how many electrical and electronic products enter the economy, how long they stay in use, and where they end up. In a project led by Iceni Group for the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Lifecycles was responsible for all the modelling behind the E-product stewardship in Australia evidence report.

What we did:

• Built a stock and flow model, based on the United Nations University method behind the Global E-waste Monitor, covering eight product categories with a 2019 baseline and a 2030 projection.

• Tracked e-waste through its three end-of-life pathways: landfill, metal scrapping and high efficiency recycling.

• Broke e-waste down by material (ferrous, non-ferrous, precious and specialty metals, plastics and glass) and estimated its market value.

• Used consumption-based life cycle assessment to quantify greenhouse gas emissions across the full supply chain, in Australia and overseas.

Key findings:

• Australia generated 521,000 tonnes of e-waste in 2019, or 20.4 kg per person. This is projected to reach 674,000 tonnes, or 23.4 kg per person, by 2030.

• Around 54% of e-waste was collected, and 80% of that went to low efficiency recycling.

• The materials in 2019 e-waste were worth about $820 million, but only $145 million (18%) was recovered.

• E-products purchased in 2019 carried 9 million tonnes of CO₂e in embodied emissions. For every kilogram of CO₂e emitted by recycling, about 18 kg was recovered through secondary materials.

• E-waste from solar PV and battery storage is projected to grow 18-fold by 2030, to 62,000 tonnes.

Outcome:

The findings were presented to more than 330 stakeholders from business, research and government at the department's roundtables on e-stewardship. They informed the development of consumer electronics product stewardship in Australia.